Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power switch for a swimming pool vacuum and, more particularly, to a smart power switch that uses a microprocessor to detect and clear motor jams in the vacuum head.
Discussion of the Related Art
The present invention relates to a swimming pool vacuum known commercially as the HAMMER-HEAD, as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,734, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference. The HAMMER-HEAD is a high performance pool cleaning tool powered by a high capacity rechargeable 12V battery. Previous versions of the Hammer-Head pool vacuum used a simple heavy duty switch to apply battery power to the motor. While easy to assemble, this setup has some disadvantages. First, the previous HAMMER-HEAD pool vacuums could only route battery power directly to the motor, providing one speed. Second, if the motor was jammed by a large object in a pool then the battery would be essentially shorted across the motor causing increased power drain until the user turned off the switch. If a user tried to unjam the motor in a previous model, without first turning the switch off, the motor would immediately begin spinning posing a safety issue.